Fenland is a

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England. It was historically part of the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures th ...

and borders the city of

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

to the northwest,

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

to the west, and

East Cambridgeshire East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in Ely. The population of the District Council at the 2011 Census was 83,818. The district was formed on 1 April 19 ...

to the southeast. It also borders the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

district of South Holland to the north and the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk to the northeast. The administrative centre is in

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

The district covers around of mostly agricultural land in the extremely flat

Fens A fen is a type of wetland. Fen, Fenn, Fens, Fenns, may also refer to: People * Fen (name), a Chinese given name and surname * Fen Cresswell (1915–1966), New Zealand cricketer * Fen McDonald (1891–1915), Australian rules footballer * Kees ...

. The population of the district was 98,262 at the 2011 Census. St Mary's Church, Whittlesey - geograph

It was formed on 1 April 1974, with the merger of the Borough of Wisbech, Chatteris Urban District,

Urban District, Whittlesey Urban District,

North Witchford Rural District {{coord, 52.372, 0.183, display=title, region:GB_scale:50000 North Witchford was a rural district in England from 1894 to 1974. It was named after the ancient hundred of North Witchford. It was formed in 1894 under the Local Government Act 189 ...

and

Wisbech Rural District Wisbech was a rural district in Cambridgeshire in England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed from that part of the Wisbech rural sanitary district which was in Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, by the Local Government Act 1894. It covered the paris ...

. In 2022 the council was reported to be the second most complained about in the county.

Settlements in Fenland District

Its council covers the market towns of

Chatteris Chatteris is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency. The parish of C ...

Whittlesey Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. Whittlesey is east of Peterborough. The population of the parish was 16,058 at the 2011 Census. History and architecture W ...

and

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

(which is often called the "Capital of the Fens"). Other villages and hamlets in the district include: War memorial and church in Elm near Wisbech - geograph

War memorial and church in Elm near Wisbech - geograph

Benwick Benwick is a village and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately from Peterborough and from Cambridge. The population of Benwick was recorded as 1137 in the United Kingdom Census 2011 with 452 hou ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

* Doddington *

Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

* Coldham * Friday Bridge *

Ring's End Ring's End is a hamlet near Guyhirn in the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. The population is included in the civil parish of Elm in the district of Fenland. History Land surrounding Elm including Coldham suffered serious flooding, with ...

* Gorefield *

Leverington Leverington is a village and civil parish in the Fenland District of Cambridgeshire, England. The settlement is to the north of Wisbech. At the time of the 2001 Census, the parish's population was 2,914 people, including Four Gotes, increasin ...

Manea Manea may refer to: * Manea, Cambridgeshire, a village in the District of Fenland, Cambridgeshire, England * Manea (name), both a surname and a given name * MANEA, an enzyme * Manea River, a tributary of the Crasna River in Romania * a singular f ...

* Newton-in-the-Isle *

Tydd St Giles Tydd St Giles is a village in Fenland, Cambridgeshire, England. It is the northernmost village in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire (bordering Lincolnshire), on the same latitude as Midlands towns such as Loughborough, Leicestershire and Shrewsbu ...

Wimblington Wimblington is a village in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 1700 as of the 2001 census, including Stonea and increasing to 2,211 at the 2011 Census. History The place-name 'Wimblington' is first attested in a docu ...

Wisbech St Mary Wisbech St Mary is a village in the Fenland District of Cambridgeshire, England. It is west of the town of Wisbech. It lies between two roads, the B1169 and the A47. The population of the civil parish (including Guyhirn and Thorney Toll) at th ...

. The latter includes

Guyhirn Guyhirn (sometimes spelled Guyhirne) is a village near the town of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, England. It is on the northern bank of the River Nene, at the junction of the A141 with the A47. The population is included in the civil parish of Wi ...

and Parson Drove.

Governance

Fenland District Council Fenland may mean: * Fenland, or the Fens, an area of low-lying land in eastern England ** Fenland District, a local authority district in Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, forming part of the Fens ** Fenland Airfield, an airfield near Spalding, ...

is elected every four years, with currently (2020) thirty nine

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s. Since 1976 the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

has held control of the council, apart from a period after 1995 when

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

had control, the Conservatives regained a majority at the 1999 election. As of June 2022, the council composition is: In the May 2019 elections, twelve councillors were returned without a vote to Fenland District Council, which topped the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...

's list of '

rotten boroughs A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electora ...

Economy

The local economy has traditionally been built upon farming and food related industry. The food industry is now well established, and related processing, storage, packaging and distribution has become more sophisticated and diverse. The predominantly

rural economy Rural economics is the study of rural economies. Rural economies include both agricultural and non-agricultural industries, so rural economics has broader concerns than agricultural economics which focus more on food systems. Rural developmen ...

of the area also includes a strong industrial tradition, including brewing, brick making, can making, pet food production, printing and engineering, and many local residents commute outside the district to work or study. The

River Nene The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...

provides access to the sea via the

Port of Wisbech Port of Wisbech is an inland port on the River Nene in Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. It is mainly used for cargo and industrial purposes, with the southern part of the port housing a number of berths for yachts. Fenland Di ...

. Other waterways provide opportunities for angling and other water based activities. Marinas are located in

and March. The council run markets in three of the towns (the market in Wisbech is run by

Wisbech Town Council Wisbech Town Council is a parish council covering the town of Wisbech in England. It is the successor to the Wisbech Municipal Borough. The Council is based at 1 North Brink, Wisbech where its committee meetings and Full Council meetings ar ...

) and a number of festivals and other events. A proposal for a new Fenland rail link was agreed in June 2020. Fenland council gave £370,400 to its chief executive Tim Pilsbury when he took early retirement in 2010–11.

Awareness and Promotion

The term Fen Tiger is associated with the fens. A flag with a tiger is now linked with this part of the county. A number of organisations such as the Fenland Archaeological Society (FenArch) and publications such as the Fenland Citizen and The Fens magazine cover much or all of the district. The

Wisbech & Fenland Museum The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The museum logo is W&F. History Initially a member-based organisation ...

for many years was the only museum covering the district. In recent years the Fenland Poet Laurate awards have been eligible for local poets.

Twin towns & sister cities

Fenland is twinned with: *

Nettetal Nettetal is a municipality in the district of Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the Lower Rhine region. History Nettetal was founded on January 1, 1970, when the former townships Leuth, Breyell, Hinsbeck and former to ...

in Kreis Viersen in Germany *

Cook County, New Zealand Cook County was one of the counties of New Zealand in the North Island. It was established in 1876 and comprised the areas which today form the counties of Cook, Waikohu, Uawa, Waiapu and Matakaoa County, extending from Cape Runaway in the ...

References

External links

Fenland District Council
{{coord, 52.575, 0.049, display=title, region:GB_scale:50000 Non-metropolitan districts of Cambridgeshire